Aids becomes 'disease of women' as worldwide spread accelerates

[Guest guest]

> Misty <misty3

> Wed, 07 Jul 2004 23:53:02 +1200

> Aids becomes 'disease

> of women' as worldwide spread accelerates

>

> Aids becomes 'disease of women' as worldwide spread

> accelerates

> By Jeremy Laurance, Health Editor

> 07 July 2004

>

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/politics/story.jsp?story=538809

>

> The worst epidemic in human history is spreading

> round the world at an

> accelerating rate and is increasingly affecting

> women.

>

> Latest figures show that 4.8 million people became

> infected with HIV last

> year - the highest number in any year since the Aids

> epidemic began. The

> total living with HIV/Aids rose to 37.8 million and

> there were 2.9 million

> deaths.

>

> Peter Piot, executive director of UNAids, which

> published its fourth

> biennial report on the disease yesterday, said Aids

> was becoming " more and

> more a disease of women " . Having largely affected

> men in its early stages,

> the proportion of women infected had risen to almost

> 50 per cent globally

> and to 57 per cent in sub-Saharan Africa.

>

> In every country of the world, from North and South

> America to Eastern

> Europe and Central Asia, the proportion of women

> infected is growing. The

> 200-page report highlights the " feminisation " of the

> epidemic, which it says

> presents a major challenge to policy makers.

>

> Dr Piot said HIV/Aids started as a disease of gay

> men in the West, men who

> visited prostitutes in Africa and injecting drug

> users in Russia and the Far

> East, who were also chiefly male. But as the course

> of the epidemic

> lengthened from years into decades there had been a

> gradual build-up of

> infections in women.

>

> Among people aged 15 to 24 in South Africa, twice as

> many women and girls

> are infected as men. Women are more biologically

> susceptible than men,

> because they are exposed to a larger dose of virus

> during sex, and their

> first sexual experience - often non-consensual - is

> likely to be with a man

> five to 15 years older, who may already be infected,

> Dr Piot said. " That is

> what is really driving the epidemic in South

> Africa, " he added. " If sexual

> intercourse started between boys and girls of the

> same age the epidemic

> would die out. "

>

> One of the main planks of the Aids prevention

> strategy - the ABC message

> (Abstain, Be faithful or use a Condom) - would have

> to be re-thought because

> it was " pretty irrelevant " for many young girls and

> women, he said. " We have

> got to revisit some of our prevention strategies.

> When sex is violent and

> non-consensual, abstention is not an option for

> women. Fidelity has to apply

> to both sides, and asking for a condom when you are

> married is difficult in

> any culture. "

>

> Dr Piot said the strategy had to be focused on

> changing the behaviour of men

> while relying on technology - especially the

> development of microbicides -

> to protect women. " In order to make sure women

> become less infected we have

> to target men. That is fundamental. We have got to

> have long-range efforts

> to change the norms in society, " he said.

>

> Efforts to develop microbicides - creams placed in

> the vagina before

> intercourse which would kill the HIV virus - had

> reached the trial stage, he

> said, and held out greater promise for protecting

> women than an Aids

> vaccine.

>

> " That would dramatically change the course of the

> epidemic like the

> contraceptive pill did for birth control, " he said.

>

> He added that efforts to empower women by improving

> their educational

> opportunities and social position were also

> essential, and where to place

> the focus of prevention efforts was an area of

> continuing debate.

>

> The report, released a week before the opening of

> the International Aids

> conference in Bangkok on 11 July, highlights the

> growth of the epidemic in

> Asia, which now accounts for almost one in four of

> all new infections in the

> world.

>

> The fastest-growing epidemic is in Eastern Europe,

> where it is driven by the

> use of injectable illicit drugs. There has been a

> rapid growth of women

> infected in the region. The age of those infected is

> also low, with 80 per

> cent under 30.

>

> In Western Europe and the United States infections

> are also on the rise, but

> only 30 per cent are aged under 30.

>

> Worldwide funding for HIV/Aids has risen fifteenfold

> in the past seven years

> and the numbers with access to anti-retroviral drugs

> has doubled. But the

> numbers are still low, with only 7 per cent of

> people in developing

> countries on drug treatment.

>

> Hilary Benn, Britain's International Development

> Secretary, announced £116m

> new funding for UN agencies to tackle Aids

> yesterday.

>

> Dr Piot said there was some good news from

> sub-Saharan Africa, where the

> epidemic is stabilising as the number of people

> becoming infected is no

> longer outstripping the number dying. " There is a

> slowing down, especially

> in East Africa, " he said. " From Addis Ababa [in

> Ethiopia] to Lilongwe [in

> Malawi], we are seeing a decline in new infections,

> especially among young

> people. "

>

> The experience of Thailand showed that Aids was " a

> problem with a solution, "

> he said. In 1991 there had been 140,000 new

> infections, which had dropped to

> 21,000 last year. That had been due to the " massive

> promotion of condoms and

> encouraging men to reduce their partners and use of

> commercial sex workers " .

> 7 July 2004 23:50

>